95th anniversary of the world standard of three point hydraulic linkage

A number of points at this special public display are of great historical interest.  Harry Ferguson on the 3rd July, 1928 Patented the three point linkage to replace the Duplex or two point linkage method as used in Ferguson ploughs from 1919.  The two point linkage was also used in the Ferguson Master Patent of 1925 that invented the modern tractor with automatic depth control and quickly interchangeable implements.  However two links were fine for ploughs but not for a wider range of implements as mentioned in the Master Patent and in 1928 a third link was added.  This was in the form of two upper links and a single lower.  The display was the first public showing of the revised Ferguson three point hydraulic linkage in final form as we know it today.  Only completed a few months previously it saw the linkage reversed with a single upper link and two lower links set to converge with the front wheels of the tractor for weight transfer and safety.  An upper link and two lower links are now a world standard method of attaching implements to tractors.  Importantly it was Harry Ferguson’s chief engineer William John Sands who had been working along with Harry Ferguson for over 15 years in improving how the tractor and plough worked as a single unit that came up with the crucial solution of much testing and development of moving the single middle link from the bottom to the top which improved control.  This made it possible for a wider range of different implements to be fitted to the linkage as the lower middle link was previously in the way of the toolbar for example on a cultivator.  The display gave Harry Ferguson and his engineers a chance to showcase the latest Ferguson three point linkage implements.  Demonstrations of using a plough, cultivator and drill plough or ridger were expertly given by Harry Ferguson and engineers William Sands and Archibald Greer.  These three implements were part of ten implements of farm mechanisation that Harry Ferguson stated during the demonstration they were working on.  The ease of use and that interchangeable implements can be changed in a few seconds for different tasks to these three links.  Automatic depth control and safety of preventing the tractor from flipping back over on the operator were also demonstrated.  The benefits in the use of hydraulics to raise and lower implements used to cultivate in very confined spaces was shown, making it possible to use every available patch of soil no matter how small.  Interestingly a potato planting machine was mentioned that would make the drills, plant the potatoes and cover them in one single operation.  Harry Ferguson took the time to state that the old outdated two unit principle of horse to pull a plough was in the past, replaced by a modern single unit in his inventions able to undertake all tasks on the farm.

At the time of the demonstration Harry Ferguson had already decided that instead of it being a bolt on attachment to the Fordson tractor like in the display it would be a requirement for a specially designed and built tractor with the linkage fully integrated to take full advantage of the revolutionary ideas in what would become the Ferguson System.  This would enable tractors to be light weight, cheap to manufacture and place the technology in the hands of even the poorest farmers.  As always Harry Ferguson was not modest on his claims, insisting they would be in production for the farmers of the world within six months.  This as we know today would not be the case as it would take a further five years to have the Ferguson System perfected in County Tyrone.  That perfection then made it possible to introduce the ground breaking Ferguson-Brown Type A in 1936 that was manufactured by David Brown in Huddersfield, England.

A number of very important guests observed the demonstration and it was reported they were very impressed at what was being achieved.  It was also believed that once ready for production this new global method of farm mechanisation could be manufactured in Northern Ireland.  Those in attendance included President of the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society Captain J. L. Chichester-Clarke, MP whose son, James Chichester-Clark would later become the 5th Prime Minister of Northern Ireland.  The implements and three point hydraulic linkage would also be demonstrated at the Balmoral show in May, 1931.

Stevan Patterson, Castlederg, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.